By A digest of coming events, compiled by Helene Van Sickle | March 7, 1999

The United Way of Lake County and the Lake County Health Department will sponsor the 14th annual Health and Human Services Legislative Breakfast, which is to feature five state lawmakers discussing human services. Reps. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills), Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest), Lauren Beth Gash (D-Highland Park) and Tim Osmond (R-Lake Villa) will join with Sen. Bill Peterson (R-Prairie View) in a round-table discussion of proposed state health and human services policies.

After drawing attention for violating disclosure laws, a suburban mayor's campaign has finally revealed his financial backers - though critics still consider his case to be a prime example of the need for statewide reform. Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg's campaign filed a three-year backlog of reports after a Tribune investigation showed how outside agencies had done little to enforce accountability laws broken by officials in a suburb that suffers from high violent crime...

Alfred I. "Buddy" Axelrod, died Dec. 17 at Sunrise Assisted Living of Lincoln Park. Mr. Axelrod, 86, a lifetime resident of Virginia Beach, VA, moved to Chicago two years ago after the death of his wife. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Garrett; his son-in-law, Gary Garrett; and a sister, Evelyn Munden. Memorial contributions can be made to PAWS Chicago, 1110 W. 35th St., Chicago, IL 60609. Sign Guestbook at chicagotribune.com/obituaries . This is a paid death...

- Even as former state Rep. Connie Howard abruptly submitted her resignation letter in July 2012, she was negotiating a plea deal with federal prosecutors who had taken a hard look at state grants she'd doled out and scholarship money she'd raised to help students. As the talks about pleading guilty continued and the months went by, Howard was able to legally pocket $57,000 from her legislative pension. And she can continue picking up another $4,750 a...

By Reviewed by David R. Slavitt, a poet, novelist and translator | February 7, 1995

Taking Care of Our Own By Susan Garrett Dutton, 177 pages, $19.95 Health care in America has been sick for a long time. Ever since it became clear that physicians could not merely predict but also influence the outcomes of disease, we began to think of medical care as something other than a commodity. It began to be a social entitlement, a right. It is only in my own lifetime-I'm on the green side of 60-that pharmacology began to include sulfa drugs and then...

Democratic State Sen. Susan Garrett announced today that she will not seek another term in office, saying she's had a fulfilling career representing the north suburbs but is ready to move on. Garrett, who lives in Lake Forest, will serve out the remainder of her term and said she did not decide to leave because of the way legislative boundaries were redrawn this year. “I love my job, I love my colleagues and my constituents, I feel like I've been a part of a family,”...

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, by Nelson Mandela (Back Bay, $13.95). " `Long Walk to Freedom' a truly wonderful autobiography, sharp, literate, unpretentious and--surprisingly--as emotionally involving as it is informative," reviewer Penelope Mesic wrote in the Tribune last year. "Polite, humorous and inflexibly firm in purpose, Mandela shows us that the qualities which he took with him into prison were only strengthened by three...

— Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn made an about-face on his choice for a running mate and plans to unveil Sheila Simon, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, as his preferred candidate for lieutenant governor, sources familiar with the selection said Thursday night. The sources, who asked not to be identified so as to not pre-empt Quinn's public announcement on Friday, said the governor rejected another top contender for the post, state Sen. Susan Garrett of Lake...

The November general election is still five months away, but the fundraising season is in full swing in Lake County as the area's politicians try to fill their campaign war chests. This month alone, Republican fundraisers are being held for Sheriff Gary Del Re, Clerk Willard Helander, treasurer candidate Robert Skidmore and state Rep. Elizabeth Coulson of Glenview. Fred Foreman, Lake County's former state's attorney and the former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois,...

An eclectic collection of prospective candidates for the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination met with top party officials across the state Saturday in scenes reminiscent of "American Idol" auditions or a daylong wait at traffic court. One hopeful suggested legalizing and taxing marijuana "to keep the state from going to pot." Another promised to push Jazzercise to attract women voters. And yet another used a tagline from a decades-old TV ad...

GOP candidate Chris Stride, running for state representative in the North Shore's 59th District, has endorsements from partymates U.S. Rep. John Porter (R-Ill.) and Gov. Jim Edgar. Pretty perfunctory stuff. Democratic candidate Susan Garrett has the nod from actor Daniel J. Travanti, a district resident for several years. Travanti, best known for TV's "Hill Street Blues," marched with Garrett in a Lake Forest parade and just had a letter praising her...

Veteran suburban lawmaker Sen. Susan Garrett has emerged as a leading choice of Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to become his running mate, top party sources familiar with the discussions said Thursday. The 60-year-old from Lake Forest shares Quinn's liberal views, and the governor believes she could help articulate his message as the lieutenant governor candidate in what's already a contentious general election battle, said the sources, who asked not to be...

Campaign-disclosure reports show that Republican Lake County Clerk Willard Helander and her Democratic opponent, Linda Hess, are neck and neck in the fundraising derby for the November election. Hess, who held the clerk's post for 12 years before she voluntarily left to pursue other interests, had nearly matched the $25,000 Helander had on hand at the end of the reporting period that ended July 31. Hess' success at fundraising is believed to be at least partly...

Alfred I. "Buddy" Axelrod, died Dec. 17 at Sunrise Assisted Living of Lincoln Park. Mr. Axelrod, 86, a lifetime resident of Virginia Beach, VA, moved to Chicago two years ago after the death of his wife. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Garrett; his son-in-law, Gary Garrett; and a sister, Evelyn Munden. Memorial contributions can be made to PAWS Chicago, 1110 W. 35th St., Chicago, IL 60609. Sign Guestbook at chicagotribune.com/obituaries . This is a paid death...

About 250 people from the north suburbs learned last weekend that Ragdale, the charming turn-of-the-century estate glimpsed through the trees at 1260 N. Green Bay Rd. in Lake Forest, was more than just another pretty facade on a mansion-lined street. At a wine and hors d'oeuvres party billed as a Gallery Gathering, guests attended to meet a few of the several hundred people whose books and paintings took form while in residence at Ragdale. The estate annually provides a serene work environment for...

Surrounded by owners concerned that local governments will use eminent domain powers to obtain their property for private development, state Sens. Susan Garrett and Dan Cronin on Monday pushed legislation that would give them a better chance at challenging such actions. The legislation, filed this month by Garrett, a Democrat from Lake Forest, also would compensate property owners for relocation costs and attorney fees in certain cases. But while legislators say constituents...

Frustrated by charges that her campaign is being secretly orchestrated by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), Illinois General Assembly candidate Susan Garrett issued an unusual invitation Thursday to her Republican opponent, Christopher Stride, in the 59th District House race. "Tell him to come to my office and spend the day here, if he's so suspicious about how my campaign is being run," said Garrett, the Democratic nominee. "He can walk in any time of...

By A digest of coming events, compiled by Helene Van Sickle | March 7, 1999

The United Way of Lake County and the Lake County Health Department will sponsor the 14th annual Health and Human Services Legislative Breakfast, which is to feature five state lawmakers discussing human services. Reps. Mark Beaubien (R-Barrington Hills), Susan Garrett (D-Lake Forest), Lauren Beth Gash (D-Highland Park) and Tim Osmond (R-Lake Villa) will join with Sen. Bill Peterson (R-Prairie View) in a round-table discussion of proposed state health and human services policies.

In books and interviews, noted Wisconsin authors Jacquelyn Mitchard of Madison and Jane Hamilton of Rochester have attributed much of their success to the peaceful, nurturing atmosphere of Ragdale, a nationally known haven for writers and artists housed on a Lake Forest estate. Recently they returned the favor. They were among several Ragdale users who returned to the 21-year-old not-for-profit haven in support of The Friends of Ragdale's 3rd annual benefit, "An Evening in the Garden."

Susan Garrett, the newly elected Democratic state representative for the Illinois House 59th District along the Lake Michigan shoreline, describes herself as "boring." "There's really nothing exceptional about me," Garrett said during a recent interview in her Lake Forest home, where she resides with her husband, Scott, and two golden retrievers, Cassie and Cody. "I don't even have any real hobbies," said Garrett, 48, whose two teenage children are away at school. "My...